Bentley Torcal EV: Price, Specs, Availability Leave a comment
Bentley has a title for its first absolutely electrical automotive: Torcal. The British marque confirmed this at this time, alongside a tease picture of the EV’s rear, promising a full reveal on 23 September 2026. Much more vital than the title, nevertheless, is the truth that that is Bentley’s first ever full electrical automotive. Specs are skinny on the bottom till the official reveal, nevertheless Bentley is ready to let slip that this 5-meter-long SUV could have a variety of greater than 300 miles.
The phrase Torcal was already on Bentley watchers’ radar. Earlier this 12 months, trademark filings confirmed Bentley had registered each “Torcal” and “Barnato” in Europe and the UK, filed in opposition to motor automobiles together with electrical automobiles, charging cables, and charging stations. Barnato, a nod to Nineteen Twenties Bentley obsessive and racing driver Woolf Barnato, was tipped because the entrance runner. Bentley has gone the opposite method.
Just like the Bentayga and different Bentleys earlier than it, the Torcal title comes from a pure landmark, El Torcal de Antequera in Andalusia, Spain, a limestone panorama of stacked rock formations. Conveniently, Torcal additionally has auto connotations, as it’s derived from the latin torquere, which means to twist, which is the place the phrase torque, describing rotational power, comes from.
First Look
WIRED was invited to a secret reveal of the Torcal, close to Bentley’s headquarters within the UK. Whereas a lot of the data handed out that day can’t be shared but, I can say that this new electrical SUV is much like the Bentayga, in that the lineage between the 2 is clear. The Torcal is barely smaller, with the signature lengthy hood and upright entrance. Bentley’s acquainted rear haunches over the wheel arches function as properly, after all, however maybe not as properly resolved as on the Bentayga.
Nonetheless, it is a lovely, highly effective and purposeful wanting SUV, with a switchable glass sunroof and new mild clusters. You’ll be able to see how totally different the taillights are to the Bentayga within the tease picture—going from the acquainted oval form to a clear line. Nevertheless, in contrast to the Bentayga, the roofline on the rear drops down, which is now changing into commonplace in electrical automobile design because it means much less drag and will increase vary.
On the entrance, maybe essentially the most putting visible component of the Torcal is the brand new grille: air flow to a radiator is changed by a strong wall of illuminated crystals with a design apparently influenced by the face of the Continental T. It is a daring contact that’s intentionally unsubtle, a far cry from the transfer in the direction of quiet luxurious.
As soon as inside, because of the all-round energy doorways, it is pleasing to see that Bentley’s designers have gotten the message concerning switchgear. Buttons for vital features are blended with OLED screens. The central show curves pleasingly downwards in an identical method to that of the brand new Cayenne. Apparently, Bentley hasn’t adopted different high-end producers in providing a separate passenger display, and I am assured there will not be an choice for this.
The Graveyard Torcal Is Driving Into
Bentley chairman and chief govt Frank-Steffen Walliser calls Torcal “essentially the most thought-about automotive” in Bentley’s historical past, and it may must be. Regardless of the EV’s closing specs, it arrives at probably the worst second up to now to promote a premium electrical automotive.
Lamborghini shelved its Lanzador electrical GT this 12 months after concluding, within the phrases of CEO Stephan Winkelmann, that demand amongst its patrons is “going virtually to zero, if to not zero.” Ferrari’s first EV, the Luce, wiped billions off the corporate’s market worth inside hours of its reveal in Rome, and Ferrari has now pushed its second electrical mannequin again to 2028.
